You Are Never Alone-REUPLOADED
by Laughing.Thalia
Summary: When Tim has a nightmare he panics and runs to Robin at Mount Justice how will YJ react to finding out Robin has a baby brother? But what happens when an offhanded remark from Green Arrow causes a Clash of Clans How will the Arrows make things right with the Bats also a story filling the gap between season 1 & 2 explains how some characters became part of the team. Nightwing Origin
1. 1) I was all Alone

****Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Batman or whatever this is everything goes to DC****

****A/N: I don't know a lot about Tim so excuse the OOC-ness also I didn't even mention Jason 'cause I know next to nothing about him and also This is a one shot. Also this is before Tim is Robin but somehow after he finds out about Batman and Robin also before season 2 of Young Justice obviously.****

****YOUNG JUSTICE POV****

Young Justice hadn't had a mission in a while and were bored out of their minds, so they decided to watched a movie, even Red Arrow and Zatanna had shown up as well as Rocket. Kid Flash and Artemis sat next to each other on a red coach with Robin (Dick) and Red Arrow on the other side to make sure that the two archers didn't fight. M'gann and Superboy sat on a black love seat to the right of the sofa and Rocket, Zatanna and Aqualad sat on a blue sofa to the right. They were in the middle of watching The Avengers when Robin leapt up and whipped out two bird-a-rangs, the movie was paused and everybody went into defence.

Aqualad asked "Robin what's wrong?"

Robin replied "Someone's in the cave."

"Well I didn't hear anyone, and I have super hearing." Said Connor

"Don't tell me you have Batman Paranoia!" Snorted the speedster

"Look, I don't have super hearing, and I don't have Batman paranoia, what I do have is a certainty that someone else is in this mountain, so either we finish the movie and get ambushed or we check Mt. Justice and be on the safe side."

Roy joked "Somebody is not feeling the Aster today." But got up and started observing the place for any signs of intrusion.

Suddenly Robin stopped and said "Guys it's ok we _do_ have an intruder but they're not dangerous. Tim you can come out now."

A boy wearing Batman jammies and sporting a domino mask identical to Robin's jumped up from behind the coach and ran to Robin he looked scared out of his mind and was whimpering "I'm sorry Robin! I know Batman told me not to come here but I'm scared!"

**TIM DRAKE POV (yes I know I got the times wrong and excuse me if Tim's OOC)**

_I was alone. Bruce was gone, Richard was gone, even Barbara and Alfred were gone. I was all alone. But where had they gone? I had to find them, I ran from room to room of the manor which felt a lot bigger than normal, until I heard voices "Dick! Bruce! Alfred! Is that you?" no answer but the sound of talking continued "Barbara? Oliver? Dinah? Clark? Heck I'll even settle for Hal right now!" I ran into the room bursting through the door and froze because all of them were on the floor limp and lifeless lying in a pool of blood. "NO!" I screamed this couldn't be happening Bruce is the Batman he wouldn't just die and leave me alone. Then out of nowhere the worst of Gotham's criminals appeared. Joker, Scarecrow, Clay Face, The Riddler, Penguin even Killer Moth, Fire Fly, Mr Freeze and Killer Croc were there, they were chanting "You will join them!" As they edged closer surrounding me, I screamed._

I sat up straight in bed screaming and in a cold sweat, I was terrified as I ran to Bruce's room but he wasn't there. I began to panic again, this was starting to be just like my dream, I ran down the hall to Dick's room he was gone too. I wanted to just lie down and cry, but then I saw a note "I'm staying with the team tonight love Dick " I fished around for one of his spare masks and ran to the Bat Cave, using the Zeta beam to get to Mount Justice and ducked behind the coach. My intrusion hadn't been discovered as I wasn't a hero (yet) and the machine hadn't broadcast my arrival, thankfully. I didn't know what I was going to do it's not like I could just walk up to Robin I wasn't even supposed to be here Bruce was going to kill me when he finds out. I was about to leave and have my panic attack in the safety of my own home when the movie was paused and I heard a relaxed but confused male voice asked "Robin what's wrong?"

Robin replied, definitely tense "Someone's in the cave."

"Well I didn't hear anyone, and I have super hearing." Said a different male voice grumpily. I guess that must be Superboy.

"Don't tell me you have Batman Paranoia!" I heard Wally snort.

"Look, I don't have super hearing, and I don't have Batman paranoia, what I do have is a certainty that someone else is in this mountain, so either we finish the movie and get ambushed or we check Mt. Justice and be on the safe side." Robin retorted slightly annoyed that they'd tried to dismiss him.

Roy joked "Somebody is not feeling the Aster today." I heard him get up from his seat in front of the coach I was hiding behind.

Robin sighed, relieved"Guys it's ok we _do_ have an intruder but they're not dangerous. Tim you can come out now."

I ran from my hiding place into Robin's arms in the middle of my panic attack "I'm sorry Robin! I know Batman told me not to come here but I'm scared!" The mask was lose on my face and tears were threatening to spill from my eyes but this was already embarrassing enough, I really didn't want to cry in front of Superheroes.

His face softened and he asked "What's wrong, what happened?"

"I had a nightmare, you were all dead even Cla-Superman, Black Canary and Green Arrow and then Gotham's worst villains appeared at the man-house, at the house, and they said I was next, and I woke up and Batman and you were both gone and I started panicking!"

Dick stroked his hair and said "Listen Tim I'm right here everyone's fine we'll never leave you alone, I'll never leave you alone, __you __are never alone."


	2. 2) Daddy Bats

****Okay so I got four reviews saying that I absolutely NEED a chapter two so I'm doing a chapter two! You should be thanking silly60, santoro613, Breanna19 and an unknown guest because Daddy Bats is making an appearance! So without further ado I give you CHAPTER TWOOOOOO!****

The team stared at Robin as he hugged and whispered to some random kid who had snuck undetected into Mt. Justice. Of course being his oldest friends, Wally and Roy already knew Tim but Aqualad had never met him before and was just as baffled as Artemis, Conner, Raquel (Rocket) and Zatanna. Artemis was the first to speak "Who the heck is that?"

Zatanna went next "How did Superboy not hear him?"

Raquel just said "That kid is cuter then puppy held by a baby!"

Kaldur stayed silent assessing the situation and failing to make sense of what was going on however when Conner asked "Is that Robin's clone?" the whole team including Robin and Tim diverted their attention from Tim and stared at him. Tim broke out into giggles that sounded suspiciously similar to Robin's freaky cackles.

Raquel rolled her eyes "I guess it's a family thing, they older they get the creepier the laugh."

Zatanna snorted "If that's true I sure as hell don't want to hear Batman laugh!"

This got Wally and Roy laughing because they __had __heard Bruce Wayne laughing whilst Superboy was still confused as to why everyone was staring at him and laughing "What's so funny?" he looked at Megan hoping she would explain but being not of Earth she didn't quite get the situation either, she shrugged uselessly.

Robin decided to explain "Conner, first of all, believe it or not I think Superman is the only one in the JL who has a clone, secondly no Tim's not a clone, he's my baby brother!"

"Baby!" Tim yelled indignantly "I could probably kick your ass!"

"Oh yeah, I'd like to see you try squirt!"

"Per-lease I'm almost as tall as you, you-you idiot!"

"Oh I'm so hurt Bat-boy!"

"Dick!" Tim yelled mischievously

"Okay! Now you've crossed the line! You little-"

Wally stepped between them "Whoa hold up guys, calm down, breath, break it up, violence isn't the answer-"

The two brothers shouted in union "Shut up Wally!" and then bro-fisted, Roy smirked as Wally slunk away.

Kaldur ignored all the messing about and got straight to the point "So you both live with Batman? Does that mean he's you father?"

Tim opened his mouth to speak but a voice from the shadows interrupted "I'm afraid that information is classified." Said a looming batman. **(DADDY BATS IN DA HOUSE!)**

Tim froze and laughed nervously "Oh Br-Batman, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, you disappeared and in this line of work and even outside of work you could have been kidnapped. The question isn't what I'm doing here, it's what are __you __doing here?"

"Oh um... I had a um... nightmare." Mumbled Tim, his face flushing red at being chastised and forced to admit the childish reason for breaking Batman's rule.

Immediately his face softened even with his cowl on you could tell "You want to talk about it?" Tim nodded "Ok lets go home and we can have some ice cream, I think we have chocolate your favourite." He ignored the weird looks he was getting from most of the team, picked him up and carried out of the Zeta beam, **RECOGNISED BATMAN- B01**.

The team stared after Batman until Artemis asked still reeling from what she had seen "Did batman just pick up that kid?"

"And carried him out the Zeta." Robin added unhelpfully

Connor questioned "Did batman just offer that kid ice cream?"

Robin nodded "Chocolate ice cream."

Wally smirk "That tends to happen whenever he turns into Daddy Bats. Oh my god Roy, do you remember last Time Robin was in an explosion, Bats literally picked him up and-"

"You said you would never speak of that you traitor! That's not aster, not aster at all." Robin cried in outrage

M'gann cut in "Robin we are all very confused can you explain what just happened?"

Robin blinked "Wasn't it obvious?"

"NO!" They all cried back in unison.

"Oh well Batman just offered Tim chocolate ice cream and walked away." Robin said with a straight face.

Raquel face palmed "I think she means explain who that kid was."

Again with a straight face he said "As I said before he's my baby brother, any more information is Bat-classified."

"Why did I not see that coming," the girl slapped herself lightly on the head "hello Megan how could I forget the Batman paranoia Wally's been informing me of."

"The __what __Wally's been informing you of!"

Zatanna sighed "Calm down Boy Wonder, you can't deny it doesn't exist." Robin tried to protest but then decided against it "But anyway, we're your team you can trust us!"

"I trust you all with my life but until Batman, de-classifies it my hands are tied. Sorry."

"Tell us!"

"No can do Zee."

Using her magic she said "si dik eht ohw su llet!" _(Tell us who the kid is)_

Robin laughed "Per-lease my mentor has serious Paranoia do you not think he trained me to counteract magic and mind control?!"

The team sighed in defeat. "Fine let's just watch the freaking movie," Exclaimed Artemis exasperated at his secrets "I mean _it's not like I told you about my family or Megan showed you her true form or Connor told you Lex Luthor was his human DNA or Kaldur told you he had a girlfriend who dumped him for his friend_, but _whatever_ keep your secrets."

Robin exclaimed looking angrier then they had seen him in ages "Artemis that's not fair!"

"No, what's not fair is that _you're_ the only one who gets a private life but never gets questioned for it because your mentor is the freaking Batman!"

"Oh so you think I like keeping secrets from the only friends I have who I actually like!?"

"Oh like your life is so hard! My dad is freaking Sportsmaster and my sister is Cheshire; Conner's a clone and-"

"Artemis you are just like everyone else! You think because of who I am my life has been easy, you think I just waltz into a place and everyone just does what I say because I'm Robin or because I'm R-"

"Oh I'm sorry what was that? Your who?" Artemis said sarcastically

"You want to know, it really bothers you that much!"

"Yes it does!"

"Well guess what Artemis I'm Richard freaking Grayson and I was going to tell you because I took that fucking picture and I told you we'd laugh about it later!" Then he clamped his hand over his mouth and instinctively scanned the room to make sure Batman wasn't there.

Artemis' face fell "Your who!" she had not expected that.

"You're who?" asked Conner, Megan and Kaldur not knowing the importance of that name.

Artemis yelled "But I go to school with you! You mean you knew who I was all this time and you didn't even consider telling me that Dick Grayson was Robin!"

Rocket and Zatanna exchanged glances before Zatanna asked "Was 'Tim' Timothy Drake?" Robin nodded "Oh God! Does that mean Bruce Wayne is the Batman?"

Robin looked horrified "Bruce is going to kill me! He's going to ban me from patrol or ban me from the mountain or maybe ban me from missions! This is disastrous heavy on the dis!"


	3. 3) Real Original Bats

****A/N: OMG you guys thank you for reviewing!****

****Artemis POV (Third person POV)****

The two non-super-powered heroes stood before the original seven of the Justice League, Green Arrow and Black Canary, behind them exchanging worried glances stood Batgirl, Tim, the rest of the YJ team and Red Arrow. "So the entire team knows your identity." Stated Batman with a steely calm voice, Robin nodded nervously, Artemis didn't understand why the bat's were so secretive and yet demanded to know everything about everyone else, it's not like she or any of the team would barge into their hou-_mansion_, they had a freaking mansion for God's sake, she lived in a tiny apartment with her crippled mother and he was the ward of a billionaire and lived in a house big enough for the whole population of Luxembourg and he has the nerve to say his life is hard! As soon as they were out of here she was giving Robin-oh she meant Dick a piece of her mind. Anyways back to the point Robin had nodded and Batman continued "And I guess that means they know me too?" again he nodded "Well seeing as I can't untell you-"

Barbara cut in "Actually you can with-"

Batman shushed her "Well that's not a very safe option permanent brain damage and all that." _Of course_ Batman was developing a device to wipe people's minds, why was she not surprised! The anger and unfairness of everything began to swell up in Artemis' chest "Anyway I'll assume you won't go around blabbing to villains and civilians, you will treat us no differently and you will refer to us in our code names oh and Artemis, don't slip up at school."

Suddenly it dawned on Artemis "Wait a minute! The Bruce Wayne Scholarship to Gotham Academy! That was _YOU_?!"

Batman nodded stiffly obviously annoyed that she had just broken two rules immediately after he had made them. "Well team that will be all, Robin, Batgirl uuum...Tim let's move." The bat family followed him out the room. As their voices faded out they caught the last few snippets of conversation "We need to get you a code name like, Red Robin or something."

Robin snorted "Real original Bats."

"I would shut it ****(OMG I did I typo so originally that said 'I would shit it' HA)**** if I were you, you're not off the hook yet." Robin went silent as they disappeared into the Zeta beam. **RECOGNISED BATMAN-B01, RECOGNISED BATGIRL-B02, RECOGNISED ROBIN-B03, RECOGNISED TIM- B00**


	4. 4) Clash of Clans

****strongA/N: Definitely NOT a one shot.../strong****

Artemis paced the living room of the Queen mansion ranting to Oliver, Dinah and Roy at how annoying the bats were "I mean can you believe them!" she continued in a mockingly brooding voice "Oh Tim I need to get you a code name, maybe Red Robin," then she switched to a high pitch squeaky voice "Real original bats, I'm totally feeling the aster!" she mocked the two contrasting characters as Roy stifled a giggle at her impression of Robin feigning indifference.

"What the heck is '_aster'_? Actually never mind off topic, Artemis calm down!" commanded Oliver Queen, (ex-)playboy, billionaire, philanthropist and vigilante, " I get that you're mad but Bruce has his reasons for secrecy, the villains in Gotham are nothing like Star City's villains, if you think these guys are nutty you should check out Gotham."

"I've teamed up on covert missions in Gotham and let me tell you there isn't a full square foot where no one's been shot, stabbed, beaten to a pulp and/or murdered in the past 8 years. Gotham is brutal." Dinah chipped in.

"Dick told me once that last time there was a mass shooting and he was present most people looked pissed instead of scared." Added Roy.

Artemis looked at them "Your taking his side." They all shifted uncomfortably and rubbed their necks nervously, averting their gaze "You're kidding me. You do know I _live_ in Gotham right?!"

"Artemis we aren't taking sides we are just... remaining neutral."

Artemis said coldly "Well if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." She turned around and stormed out of the room to the arrow cave (which should really be called the quiver even though Ollie insisted on calling it The Bunker) taking the Zeta beam back to her apartment in Gotham, near The Narrows.

Back at the Queen mansion Roy said quietly "You know she's got a point."

"That whole 'I am the Night' thing is pretty annoying." Agreed Oliver

"She's just stubborn, you know that. Batman has his reasons you said so yourself." reasoned Dinah.

Roy snorted "And those reasons are that he's the most paranoid guy in the universe!"

"-And don't forget suspicious." Added Oliver

"Come on guys be fair I mean he lives in freaking GOTHAM, you'd have to be either crazy or stupid to let your guard down in that place __and__he's a rich playboy he's an easy target when not in uniform __and__his 'friends' only hang with him because he's rich, every single one of them would turn around and stab him in the back right after they had said that they got his back." Dinah rationalised

"Okay tell me have you ever been to the Wayne Manor?" asked Oliver

"No. But that's because even though Black Canary knows Batman, Dinah doesn't know Bruce!"

"Have you ever been to the Bat cave?"

"No but that's because... because... it doesn't matter why I haven't been but there's a reason!"

"Face it Canary he doesn't trust you." Deadpanned Roy

"He..." her resistance crumpled "yeah he doesn't trust me."

"So who's going to call Artemis and tell her she was right?"

A female voice said smugly "You don't have to." They all looked around bewildered to see Artemis' face on the TV screen, she smirked and waved "So we're bringing this up next league meeting?"

Roy asked "And who are we going to call to the meeting? I mean most League meetings are the Original 7 and anyone who was involved in a major mission that week."

"Let's just call a new meeting that has the Young Justice team, the whole Bat Clan, us obviously and The Original Seven." Finalised Artemis.


	5. 5) Robin in such a Dictator

The Arrows and the Bats walked into the Watch Tower arguing, the rest of the main Leaguers (Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash {Barry Allen}, Green Lantern (Hal Jordon), Martian Man Hunter, Hawk Girl and Aquaman) and Young Justice ( Aqualad, Rocket, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Superboy and Zatanna) were already there, they stared as the usually calm clan of Bats yelled at the aggravated family of Arrows. Their words were impossible to hear because they were all talking at the same time, after about a minute Superman stood up from his seat at the head of the table and screamed "Enough!" everyone froze and fell silent looking at him "How are we supposed to protect the world if you guys can't even settle a simple matter!"

"SIMPLE!" yelled Artemis in outrage "This is anything but simple!"

Roy grumbled loud enough for everyone to hear "It would be a lot simpler if the Bats were straight with us for once."

Green Arrow continued "You act like a heartless man who has no feelings and I'm not sure if you've notice but it's transferred onto Robin!"

Robin looked offended "_Excuuuuse_ _me_! I will have you know that he's not transferring _anything_ to me! I just grew up, something you obviously never did."

Flash made an 'oooh' sound and received several glares.

GA without thinking cried "I get it you're all lone wolf avengers of the night but you need to get off your high-horses and quite your holier-than-thou attitude because you're the same as us! There's no big reveal where you reveal you're an alien sent here from another planet or you're part of some green space police! You're just humans, like me and the rest of the Arrows!" The entire Justice league gasped unsure of what to do in the presence of a yelling matched between a 30-something man and a 15 year old kid.

Robin yelled "You're right, we're not magical or super powered or from the future, but here's what makes you and me different, you became a vigilante because you could, I became a vigilante because I had to! My parents were killed-slaughtered- right in front of me by Tony Zucco, he didn't have any problem with my parents but just because he didn't get what he wanted he murdered them! I ended up in a freaking Juvie because Gotham is so crime-ridden that all the orphanages were _full, _do you know how many orphans that would take? Too many! If Bruce hadn't taken me in I would probably have ended up as one of the criminals you guys are constantly trying to bring in. I didn't become a hero because I could, I became a hero because I didn't want any other kid to have to watch their loved ones die to the hands of criminals!" And then he stormed put of the room.

Robin left the room not looking at anyone. Batman looked at the Arrow family "So Artemis, everyone, are you happy now?" he hissed as he followed after his son with a whoosh of his cape.

Kid Flash could only say "So that's why he had a momentary lapse in character last time I called him a dick-" he looked at Superman who was giving him a stern Boy-Scout look "-tator, a dictator."

Green Arrow put his face in his hands tiredly "I feel bad."

"Yeah, you should!" Barry exclaimed which shocked Oliver seeing as they were practically best friends.

"You're taking _his_ side?"

"I'm not taking _anyone's_ side but as a guy who's mother was murdered when I was a kid I can understand where he's coming from, it really does feel sometimes that the only way to feel better is to make everyone else feel like shit just so you know someone's having a worse time than you."

"Well you weren't a secretive asshole vigilante when you were a kid."

"Yeah, because I had Joe and Iris and my dad was still alive even if he was in jail. That kid had absolutely no one, he didn't even speak proper English and they shoved him in Juvie." And with that Barry Allen left the room too.

Oliver sighed at the ceiling before banging his fist against the wall in frustration "Damn it! I'm such an idiot!"

Artemis turned around to the her mentor and sighed "Maybe we should apologise."

"You were the one-" Oliver started indignantly

"I'm a child!" She exclaimed in self defence

"You're 17! You're adult enough to fight crime whilst showing your entire stomach so you're old enough to go apologise."

Roy and Dinah huffed at the two green-clad Archers and dragged them into the hallway saying that they would all apologise. Today could not have gone worse.

****A/N: I stole that dictator thing from Iron Man 3 I'll admit it.****


	6. 6) Mystery Friend

Bruce strode out of the Zeta room and ran straight into Oliver and Artemis who bumped into Roy and Dinah "Come to apologise?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yes actually, we really _are_ sorry, for what it's worth." Replied Oliver trying to look as ashamed and apologetic as humanly possible.

"Yeah well Robin's gone back home, he's got school tomorrow as do you Artemis."

"Oh my God, Robin goes to my school! I almost forgot about that."

Batman tilted his head "Robin isn't the only one that goes to your school."

Artemis looked at him confused "Who else-" Batgirl walked round the corner. Without her mask "BARBARA!" her mouth dropped "Barbara Gordon is Batgirl!?"

Batgirl snorted "And this is why the Arrow family could never be detectives." Then she glared at the four and zetaed ****(is there another way of saying zetaed?)****out of there.

Batman said stiffly "You should just go home everyone has stuff to do tomorrow."

They walked past Batman into the Zeta room and Dinah turned around and sighed "We really are sorry Bruce."

"Yeah well tell that to Dick." Then they all walked through the beams and ended up in their respective homes.

Oliver and his ward, Roy, in the Queen mansion in Star City, Dinah in her penthouse apartment, Bruce in the Bat Cave and Artemis to her mom's ****(I'm British so I have to remember not to say mUm, not that it really matters) ****apartment in a bad area in Gotham City.

****TIME SKIP - IT'S-THE-NEXT-DAY-GOTHAM-ACADEMY****

****Artemis POV (First Person POV)****

I walked into school the next day my eyes darting around the halls looking for the red headed girl or the raven haired boy, who secretly patrolled the Gotham skyline at night, but neither bat nor bird were in sight, knowing them I wouldn't see Barbara until class and I wouldn't see Robin until their next mission. Stupid bat training.

I sighed and walked to my locker, thoroughly depressed, I put in my combinationand got out my maths and science books. Two boys named Victor Stone and Garfield Logan and a girl called Karen Breecher walked past me. Victor reminded me of Kalder appearance wise, they were both tall, strong and African American ****(I'm just gonna use Cyborg but without the Cyborg parts)****but he was a lot goofier he didn't have the same sense of duty and he was great with electrical items and vehicles, his parents are scientists, they had made some ground breaking discoveries in the past and were on the verge of another one which was cool but he didn't talk about them very much, she got the feeling they were too busy to spend much time with him.

Garfield****(Beast Boy before the beast)****was even goofier; cracking jokes 24/7 but not much was known about his home life, I had a suspicion he was an orphan but I'm not sure and I didn't pry what with me hiding the fact that I'm a super hero and all, I respected his privacy. Karen was a good friend of mine, her parents were also scientists of a different field, I think it was genetics like all that Spider-man stuff, maybe one day there really will be a Spider-man running around New York because of them but for now the only spider themed vigilante was Black Spider and he wasn't the good kind of vigilante. ****(Bumble Bee I know she goes to Happy Harbour with Megan and Conner but oh well!)****Karen was also African American and had afro hair that she usually wore in two pom-pom bunches. Ironically she was a cheerleader, the best cheerleader in all of the Central City and Keystone City area; as she was my Best (school) friend I was constantly attending her Cheerleading competitions or making excuses as to why I couldn't go to them at the last minute. Karen and Victor had been dating for a year now, it was sweet but also kind of sickening for me and Garfield who forever make jokes at their expense. They were walking past me to get to their lockers which were close to mine they all said "Hi." to me and went to their lockers then they came back to meet up at my locker.

"Hey girl, where have you been all weekend I thought you had died or something! Answer your phone! Seriously!" Karen yelled at her friend.

I said sheepishly "Sorry I got into this fight with my friend and I didn't really want to talk to them so I turned my phone off."

Garfield nudged her suggestively "Are you sure it wasn't your boy friend haaa," I glared at him and he backed down immediately "Okay just a friend."

Victor threw his arm around Karen's shoulder and asked "So have you and your mystery friend made up yet?"

Dick Grayson chose that exact moment to walk past. He heard. Of course he heard, he had bat hearing, we locked eyes for a second before he looked away - he was still mad - I turned back to the three waiting for my reply "No. No we haven't." She sighed before shaking her head and asking Karen "So after a weekend of radio silence what have I missed?"

"Keystone Academy is versing Gotham Academy tomorrow in a(n American) football match, I'll be there cheerleading and Victor is quarter-back so he'll be there so it will just be you and Garfield, I suppose you're going to sit with Barbara Gordon, the comish's daughter while we're gone.

Garfield said "Yeah." at the same time I basically screamed "NO!" everyone in the corridor around my locker stared at me "Uuuuh I mean, I don't really like Barbara's friend Cindy... she's too... cynical for me." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and hoped they wouldn't question it.

They all exchanged looks and then focused back on me, their expressions said _'___Spill it'__but obviously I couldn't tell them the truth I opened my mouth to explain although I had no idea what I was going to say but then the bell rang. I sighed, 'phew' saved by the bell "Well gotta get to class Ms Perkins will have a fit if I'm late again!" I dashed away from them getting lost in the crowd of students and hurried to the maths block not looking back at them once. Now I only had to think up an excuse for break(recess) or at least stall until lunch. Today was going to be a __looooong__day.

**I realise that since the first Chapter I haven't really mentioned Tim, I'll have to bring him back to the plotline in the next chapter.**


	7. 7) I'd Kick Your Butt

After a long day of Richard and Barbara avoiding Artemis and Artemis trying to avoid the subject of Richard and Barbara with her friends on top of _actual_ lessons Artemis changed into her uniform and Zetaed to Mt. Justice, where she then proceeded to crash on the sofa and groaned loudly Megan appeared out of nowhere and asked "Long day at school?"

Artemis jumped having not noticed the floating martin girl beforehand "Oh Megan you scared me, yeah Barbara and Richard are avoiding me."

Megan frowned "Oh yes I forgot, you go to Robin and Batgirl's school. How did that happen anyway?"

"Bruce Wayne scholarship, remember I mentioned it before although you might not have been paying attention because of all the other drama..."

"aaaah Bruce Wayne Scholarship, but don't you live in Star City?"

"No I just work with GA because of my archery skills, I live in Gotham, in a different life I could have been a Bat."

A whiz of red and yellow alerted them to the presence of Kid Flash and a second later he appeared in front of them munching on some popcorn "Sup guys."

"Hey Wally!" greeted Megan happy and exited as usual.

"Hey beautiful." Replied KF, cringtastically flirtatious as usual.

Artemis rolled her eyes at his antics but smiled at the routineness of it all, just then (Richard? Dick?-Nope.) Robin walked into the room and everyone seemed to hold their breaths, unsure of what to do. Robin swiftly made his way to his room at Mt. Justice in a relaxed casual way if she hadn't know any better she'd say he wasn't mad at all. Wally shot her an apologetic look before getting up and following his best friend out the door. Artemis sighs as Megan's usual string of chattering ceases and Superboy and Kaldur enter confused by the lack of sound that usually filled Mount Justice.

"What's going on?" asked Kaldur

Artemis sighed "Just Robin and me, we're still not cool. I don't know what to do."

Super Boy being slightly oblivious asked "Why don't you just apologise?"

"I'm not entirely sure he would forgive me."

Megan suggested "Why don't we give him time to cool down?"

Kaldur sighed "I don't like you two fighting but if you're not going to talk to each other don't let it affect missions and training. I know Robin well enough to know he'll probably act all Batman-y and professional but you probably won't."

**RECOGNISED RED ROBIN B03**

"OH MY GOD GEUSS WHAT!" Tim entered yelling excitedly.

"What?" asked Megan

Tim looked at here as if she should know "I'm wearing my own Red Robin costume and the zeta called me Red Robin. I'm a hero now!"

Batgirl came up behind him and whacked him in the head "More like hero in training, the suit doesn't make you a hero Tim."

"HEY!" the two Bats started whacking each other until Tim brought out a smoke bomb and disappeared, he then reappeared five seconds later on the other side of the room.

Artemis looked at him "How did you do that?"

"What Ollie never taught you how to?" Batgirl sneered in a half rude half sarcastic way still mad at the arrows for upsetting Robin but understanding that they were sorry.

Just then Kaldur stepped in ending the argument before it started "Batgirl, Robin and KF are in Rob's room and Artemis, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Red Arrow are in the briefing room I suggest you go to them."

The two girls exchanged looks not hostile but not friendly either as if they were both trying to say 'Not that I'd ever attack you but I'd kick your butt' then they both left the room silently on opposite sides of the room.

****Next chapter will be more Tim-centric which is going to be hard because I KNOW ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING ABOUT HIM. NNNNNNOOOOOOTTTTHHHHIIIIINNNNNGGGG! Nada. Zilch. Excuse Tim's future OOCness, I apologise in advance.****


	8. NOT A CHAPTER: Special Thanks To:

**Special thanks to these guys who read and reviewed this fic during my 2 year hiatus.**

**BTW the people that say The anonymous in front are just people who's names aren't links that I can click. I assume they're on private or something.**

**Magturtle**

**The anonymous Catwoman**

**Pysco-babydoll**

**GhostLucy**

**NicoCheesediPizzaAngelo**

**AmandaVincent13**

**patriotsfan1**

** bobbystolfi154**

**allstar911**

**Heally98**

**The anonymous Gaby**

**The anonymous Black target**

**DuskMuse711**

Guest

Guest

**The Shadow Keeper**

**lonewritertx**

**The anonymous Tom**

**The anonymous LizzieD86**

**The anonymous Raquel**

Guest

**Thunderfiredragon**

**YourNeighbor306**

**OverObsessedFangirl8804**

**The anonymous SJFanOfTheGirl.**


	9. 8) Bat Boy & 9) Just Statements

****A/N: My favourite word is 'Rendezvous' which I just remembered I originally heard from Young Justice. But my word of the day is 'Centric' as in Tim centric! ****

Kaldar and Tim exchanged looks, behind his new, well-fitting domino mask Tim raise an eyebrow at the tension that had surrounded the team since the first time he'd met them. "Well... I guess I'll just go find Robin.." Tim started walking in the direction Batgirl had just disappeared to.

"Wait Ti-Red Robin, I know Robin's still mad at Artemis and the others but this can't go on, it might affect missions. It could be a hazard."

Red Robin sighed "I'll talk to him, later when Batgirl and KF aren't there." Aqualad nodded thankfully as Tim left the room.

Tim thought about how he would approach Richard with the subject, but no ideas came to mind, he guessed he would just blurt it out and hope for the best. He typed in the code to Robin's room and was greeted by the bird, the bat and the speedster "Hey guys!"

Dick grinned and replied "Hey Red!" Robin had taken to calling him Red instead of his full superhero name Red Robin, it was less awkward that way. Tim was thinking of changing his name permanently to Red but Richard had told him he could be Robin when he changed names. Dick hadn't actually chosen a new name yet but he wanted it to be something cool like Batwing or Night Crawler or something (He refused point blank to be called Bat Boy, I guess it was too close to brat boy and after a life time of being called Boy Blunder by the Joker he wanted a name that was impossible to make fun of).

Batgirl had taken off her mask and was now Barbara Gordon "Okay so Robin, KF how was your last mission?"

Wally groaned "A disaster!" Then regretted it as he swung round to cut off Dick before he started up on dis and asters and whatever else.

"Heavy on the dis!" He looked Wally right in the eye as he said this knowing his butchering of the English language would annoy the older boy "Totally __not __feeling the aster!"

They talked for an hour eating snacks that Robin had stored in his room and sipping cups of lemonade from the mini-fridge but then Batgirl and Robins Bat Coms rang and while Batgirl's was a simple normal phone ring, Robin's was Batman's old theme song

_**'N**___**a na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!'**__

Kid Flash did a spit-take and sputtered "Batman _let_ you keep _that_ as his ringtone?"

Robin brushed off the question and answered it still eating a cookie, Batgirl had put her mask on and sat next to him so they would be on one screen "Batman." Robin nodded professionally despite the cookie crumbs around his mouth.

Batman replied gruffly "Robin Batgirl," Commissioner Gordon came into view "Bane is back and usually I wouldn't bother you but he's working with Penguin and they've got hostages. So put the cookie down and get back to Gotham."

Robin stuffed the last of the cookie into his mouth and said, slightly muffled due to his full mouth, "We're on our way Bats." The screen went dark. "Well KF, Red; I guess we have to go."

KF huffed like a spoilt child"Yeah yeah, you always do this!" Then his tone changed completely "Don't die though."

Robin smiled "We won't." The two heroes raced from the room checking their gear as they did so and Zetad to Gotham appearing in an alleyway near the base of one of the many, many sky scrapers. They shot their grappling hooks in unison and went flying upwards, as the hooks disconnected from the building Robin did a back flip and landed in a fighting stance with a boa staff in his hand, while Batgirl spun round horizontally in mid air three times and landed next to Robin in a throwing position with two bat-a-rangs in her hands. They stood silent as the wind settled for a second for a cliché hero moment and they seemed to go into slow motions, Batgirl's red hair glittered in the wind and Robin's cape swayed dramatically, then they unfroze and separated.

The Commissioner stared at them and blinked not really knowing what he had just seen while Batman rolled his eyes under his masked and for once joked in front of the Commissioner "You two are so dramatic you might as well be Superman's protégés." Then he went serious again "Come on we've got a criminal duo to catch."

Batgirl placed her hands on her hips "I guess we're on hostage duty?" Batman nodded and then they all jumped off the building and followed Batman to Bane and Penguin's location feeling the wind whip their faces through the fabric partially covering their faces as they swung from building to building with ease.

****LINE BREAK / BACK AT MOUNT JUSTICE / BACK TO ROBIN'S ROOM ****

Wally West and Timothy Drake sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes before KF finally asked "So... Red, did Rob tell you about how he wants to change names?"

"Yeah, he point blank refused Bat Boy."

Wally smirked "You said that too? You should have seen his face when Roy suggested it."

Tim chuckled "I wish I could have! Dick said when he did change names I could be The Robin. I guess he's planning on getting a new costume too." Wally smirked then he sped off and came back with some paper and pencils, five seconds later Wally had drawn a picture of Richard in a Batman costume. Tim snorted and rubbed away the cowl and replaced it with his classic Domino mask. "Much better."

Just then M'gann came in "I saw Robin and Batgirl rush out of here a while ago so I thought I'd join you two, is that okay?"

Wally sent her a flirtatious smile "Sure beautiful, just take a seat we're just drawing up Robin's new costume!"

Megan ignored his flirting and looked at the paper in Tim's hands, she stared at it for a second thinking hard "Something's not right..." then she gasped and whacked her head lightly "Hello Megan! It's so obvious!" She grabbed a rubber and proceeded to rub out the cape so it was just a one piece suit "Okay there!"

Tim clicked his fingers "He needs a different emblem he can't use that one, that's Batman's." He _tried to_ draw a bird on the chest and Wally laughed at his sad attempt "I'd like to see you do better!"

"Okay, I will!" he took the paper and drew a _waaaay_ better bird and coloured it bright blue to contrast with the black of the suit. He looked smugly at Tim "You were saying."

"Shut up __Wallace__." He took the paper back and adjusted the collar so it was higher "This is the best costume ever! Except from mine."

Wally grinned immaturely "And Wonder Woman's"

Megan looked scandalised and blushed but at the same time she looked furious "WALLY! Wonder Woman is a respectful, female warrior! You can't degrade her costume like that!"

Wally looked horrified and stuttered "Oh no... uuuum Megan I wasn't- I mean I didn't mean to.. uuuh.

Megan huffed and then she was calm and happy again "Don't worry about it Wally. I know what you're like, you didn't mean any harm."

The two boys sighed with relief as she dropped the subject. Tim tried to continue the conversation "Anyways, Robin's costume..."

Wally looked thoughtful "Right. We still need a superhero name."

Megan smiled "How about Bat Boy!" The two boys burst into fits of giggles and Megan went back to thinking "The Shadow?"

Wally cringed "I don't know Megan, 'Shadow' doesn't really sound like him..."

Tim suggested "Bat Wing!"

Wally raised an eyebrow "But that emblem is clearly a bird, we can't call him Bat Wing."

Wally suggested "I want to say Night Crawler 'cuz it sounds cool but he's a bird and birds don't crawl."

Megan's eyes lit up "Night Flyer!" The two boys shook their heads and she depleted "This is hopeless, let's just let Robin decide I mean we already designed his costume."

**This used to be 'Chapter 9: But are there just Statements?' but now it's just a**

**LINE BREAK**

When Robin and Batgirl arrived back at Mount Justice they groaned rubbing their sore arms from where Bane had whacked them before they could take out the tube that gave him the super serum,also from when they almost got trampled by civilians and got shot at by Penguin armed with no other than his classic laser umbrella.

Robin groaned "_Uuuug_ I swear I'm _never_ going to move again!"

Batgirl agreed "Who knew civilians could be so... so stampede-y!"

They groaned as they walked into Robin's room to find Wally, Tim and Megan gathered around a piece of paper surrounded by minuscule bits of rubber (eraser). Wally looked up from the paper while Tim continued to draw, his tongue sticking out slightly in concentration. KF grinned at the loud groans being emitted from the teen duo "Tough mission?"

"Understatement of the century!" said Batgirl as she flopped onto a red armchair and sighed

"There's understatements and overstatements but are there just statements?" asked Robin

It was silent for five seconds until Wally dead panned "Yes. Yes there is."

"Huh, I guess I must be delirious from over work." Robin lay on his bed "So what have you guys been doing?"

Megan said cheerfully "We were working on your new Bat Boy costume!"

Batgirl snorted whilst Robin sat up and snapped "We are __not__calling me that!" At Megan's crestfallen face he sighed "Sorry Megan didn't mean to yell, thanks for helping me out with the costume." He held out his hand "Tim, pass it over."

"One...Second" Red Robin was still scribbling furiously on the paper "DONE!" He exclaimed cheerfully he grinned and handed it to Robin

Robin nodded his head in approval "Awesome. Wait how comes I don't get a cape?" KF gave him a look as if to say__'like you don't know' __"Is this because of that time I got it caught in the door on a mission? Because that only happened _once_, I swear!"

Barbara, Megan, Tim and Wally all started laughing. Wally snorted "Oh my God Rob, you're too easy, Batgirl, M'gann and Red didn't know about that."

"Now we do!" Batgirl giggled

Robin blushed "Yeah yeah. Now besides Bat Boy what names do we have?"

"I believe a Night Crawler was mentioned." Tim recalled

Megan added "I suggested Night Flyer!"

"I'm sticking with Bat Boy." Wally shrugged

Robin looked at Barbara "Babs you're my last hope!"

"I got nothing, sorry Rob."

There was silence for a second and then Tim said unsurely "You know, I'm sure Artemis would have a cool name for you." This suggestion was met with a hostile look from Robin and a defensive one from Batgirl. Wally winced slightly at the sudden ferocity emitting from the two bats.

"We are not going to Artemis." Robin said sternly

Tim sighed "Look Dick, I get you're mad at her and the rest of the arrows even Roy but you need to talk to her. This could get in the way of missions, this could-"

"Just because Artemis isn't professional enough to let her personal life be separate from missions doesn't mean I'm not either. It won't affect _me_ in the slightest."

"But-"

"No."

"But Kaldur-"

"NO."

"What about-"

"What part of NO don't you understand? Just drop it!"

Tim sighed "Fine."

There was an awkward silence as the tension settled "Sooo..." said Wally finally trying to re-break the ice "How's Penguin doing?"

"He's in Arkham Asylum, like all the other whack jobs in Gotham."

Megan tried to join in "well that's... good." And failed miserably


	10. 10) Duty Calls

**Chapter 10: Duty Calls**

After the awkwardness of their meet up Robin and Batgirl headed back to their respective homes whilst M'gann, Red Robin and Kid Flash went to speak to Superboy and Aqualad about the whole Arrows VS Bats thing that didn't seem to be reaching an end any time soon.

Tim sighed "I tried to bring Artemis into the conversation but it just made him angry and so we dropped the subject."

Kid Flash propped his legs up on the table in front of the sofa he was sitting on "It was a train wreck, completely disastrous, _heavy on the dis-_."

"So what are we supposed to do about Robin and Artemis?" M'gann asked the boys.

Artemis and Roy walked into the room having only heard the last part. She put he hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow "What about me?"

Connor waved his hand flippantly "How you and Robin aren't speaking."

Artemis sighed "Well _I_ want to speak to him but _he __**obviously**_ doesn't want to talk to _me_."

Roy also sighed "He's not talking to me either. Man I'm such an idiot! This is what I get for listening to _you_." He pointed accusingly at Artemis.

She raised her hands in surrender "Hey you have free will it's not like I forced you! Besides it was Oliver who pushed Rob over the edge!"

Roy yelled at her "So you're still not going to take responsibility for what _you_ caused! If you hadn't been so untrustworthy of the Bat's despite your own villainous backgrounds this never would have happened!"

Artemis flushed red in anger "I am nothing like Sportsmaster! And my mother did the best she could for me and my sister!"

"Really? Because Jade tells the story differently!"

"How do you-" Artemis never got to finish.

"Jade says in your family it's every girl for themselves! So maybe you're not so different from Sportsmaster! Maybe just like he does you push away everyone even your own family! And you were so ashamed of that truth that you buried it deep and _convinced_ yourself that your mother actually cared-"

Artemis stomped her foot on the floor "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY FAMILY! In fact what do you know about me? You don't know me!"

"And whose fault is that?"

"Your fault! It's your fault Roy, for leaving in the first place!"

Megan and the others were feeling very uncomfortable watching this argument so she did the first thing she could think of, fake empathetic distress. She put Connor, Kaldur, Tim and Wally in a mind link and told them:

__'Guy I'm actually fine no one actually worry just act worried'__

They all gave her confused looks unsure what she was talking about

Megan collapsed on the floor clutching her head "Guys stop please, the negative emotions are getting to me!"

Connor rushed forward quickly and then realised what she meant he crouched on the floor and whispered "This is fake?"

"Yeah."

Artemis and Roy had stopped arguing and Artemis looked worried "M'gann! Are you okay?"

Megan got up slowly with the help of Superboy "I'll be alright don't worry about me."

Roy sighed apologetically "Sorry Megan."

Megan smiled at him "It's quite alright."

Artemis stared and mimicked her wondering why she was speaking so weirdly "Quite alright?"

"Uum yeah. Why?" Asked Megan

"It's just not the way you usually phrase things. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine Artemis." Megan tried to assure the other green girl but it was hard when_ she hated lying to her friends so much._

Connor and Megan exchanged looks unsure how to proceed until Aqualad took the reins "Roy, Artemis you are already at war with Robin and Batgirl it is unwise to also be at war with each other."

Roy and Artemis sighed "He's right you know."

Roy held out his hand "Truce?"

Artemis took his hand and the engaged in a firm handshake "Truce. Might as well work together to get Rob to forgive us. We can fight amongst ourselves later."

Tim's Bat Comm rang and he answered it "Hello Red Robin speaking how may I help you?"!"

"Tim get here now, you me and Robin are going on a recruitment mission for Young Justice."

"Holy new recruits Batman! You really sprung that on me! I'll be there ASAP!" he hung up and jumped up and down excitedly "Guys!" he said to the other teen heroes "Batman, Robin and I are going on a recruitment mission! We might be getting a new addition to the team!"

They all looked shocked and a series of gasps and "Really?"s ran through the room before Tim let out an excited squeal and ran from the room to the Zeta "Got to go guys, duty calls!"

****MEANWHILE IN THE BAT CAVE****

Batman stood waiting for Robin when he got back "We have a mission." He said darkly

"What is it?"

"We're recruiting a new member for Young Justice."

Robin looked shocked "We are?!"

"Actually we have two potential new members on our list but we're only meeting one of them. And Tim's coming too."

"Okay, cool. Who are we recruiting?" asked Robin setting up his wrist computer so he could do a quick search on whoever it was.

"Well we are recruiting a girl called Karen Breecher. I believe you and Barbara go to school with her."

Robin's jaw dropped "Karen got powers?!"

"She was involved in a science experiment her father was doing, a bee got caught in the machine and gave her the ability to shrink, grow wings and fly and also to shoot little laser beam things. We haven't been able to determine what kind of energy it is yet."

"How comes Barbara isn't coming?" Robin asked as he saw Tim enter the Bat Cave all geared up in his Red Robin suit, which was somewhat like the Robin suit but with a big red cross on the front and a more Batman-esk head covering.

"A kid with black hair who lives in Gotham could be anyone. A teenage girl who has that certain shade of red hair is less common. Karen knows her and until she agrees to our terms and conditions she can't know about anyone's identities."

Tim grinned "That makes sense. Now let's go on my first actual mission!"

Robin asked curiously "Say uh Batman, you said there were two recruits. Who's the other one?"

"Aquaman is working on getting this Atlantis teen Vigilante to join us. Goes by the name Lagoon Boy." ****(A/N:I don't know his backstory)****

Tim snorted "That's such a lame name." Richard agreed.

The three Bat Boys jumped into the Bat-mobile and drove off into a network of complicated secret roads and underground tunnels. Tim "Whoop"ed with joy and Richard smiled at his little brother remembering how he had been the same on his first official mission after the Tony Zucco incident.


	11. 11) Young Heroes, Protégées & Sidekicks

****Young Heroes, Protégées and Sidekicks****

****A/N: The main purpose of this chapter is to bring back that Tim/Dick brother relationship from the first chapter which I've sort of dropped for a large majority of this fic but it's making a comeback! Thanks for reviewing/following/favouriting!****

Batman, Tim and Dick parked outside the house realising there was no reason to be inconspicuous, the three boys strode towards the front door, Batman in the middle and the two younger boys either side. Ringing the doorbell, they waited for someone to answer. Not 10 seconds later a slightly paranoid looking African-American woman poked her head round the door and stared at Batman's concealed eyes for a second before she seemed to register that, _yes _batman __was__at her front door. Her eyes widened and she slammed the door in their faces.

Tim asked awkwardly "So um…. Do we come back later or…?"

The door opened again this time a man who they recognised as world renowned scientist Dr Beecher opened the door fully, trying to look as intimidating as possible, his wife stood behind him obviously scared but she was holding a base ball bat in her hand and she looked determined to fight if she had to. Dr Beecher scowled at Batman "Listen Batman, you will not take my daughter away from me! She's having a hard enough time without being locked up in some cage!"

Robin realised the misunderstanding "Sir, I think we've all misread this situation! We don't want to do anything of the sort."

Dr Beecher stared at them "You don't?"

Tim replied "Nope!" Mrs Beecher lowered her bat hesitantly.

Batman finally spoke "We just want to make sure Karen has a handle on her powers and if she _doesn't_ we want to train her. As soon as we know she's safe and isn't a danger to anyone else she can do whatever she wants. Although after making sure her powers are in check we were hoping to recruit her."

"So you just want to train her?"

"We just want to train her." Batman reached into his cloak "Look I have a contract here I'll give you a couple of days to read it over and hopefully you'll sign it. If you want to change it tell me when we come back and I'll see what I can do seeing as The seven original leaguers came up with these terms together and this is the contract that all the guardians of Young Justice signed I'll have to consult with them before any adjustments are made."

"Young Justice?" Mrs Beecher asked.

""It's a team composed of young heroes, protégés and sidekicks. Robin here is actually a founding member and Red Robin is the newest member." Both boys smiled and waved at the mention of their names.

"So who signed their forms?" Dr Beecher questioned.

Batman paused for a second wondering whether he should reveal this key piece of information; he needed to earn his trust "I did."

Dr Beecher raised his eyebrow "__You're__their legal guardian?"

"Yes. I am." Batman's voice had grown very short and clipped and his teeth seemed to be grating on each other.

"What did you do kill their parents?" He said in a joking manner almost missing the way Batman's eyes momentarily widened and the way Robin flinched. Almost. The thing that tipped him off was the way Red Robin seemed to have frozen staring at Dr Beecher as if he wasn't even there. Robin quickly grabbed Red Robin and pulled over to the Batmobile. Dr Beecher looked from the two kids to Batman "Uuum I'm sorry did I overstep…uuum."

"Forget it, their fine. Anyway so can I talk to Karen?"

"Right of course." He turned around and called up the stairs "Karen honey come downstairs!" Then turned back to Batman "So do you guys want to come in?"

"Okay. Robin, Red, you two okay?" They both nodded "Well then come inside."

****TIM DRAKE POV 3RD PERSON****

"What did you like kill their parents?" Dr Beecher joked, he felt Bruce tense to the right of him but suddenly it was like he wasn't standing outside Karen Beecher's house on his first recruitment mission in his Red Robin costume, it felt like he was a lost little boy again standing at his parent's graves in the rain.

He was shaken out of his flashback by a gentle but firm grip on his arm pulling him away, he was about to panic but looked up and saw his older brother staring at him worriedly "Are you okay Tim?"

Tim stared for a second his mind still trying to process then he nodded slightly "I froze up. What if I do that on a mission?"

Robin smiled softly "Believe me when I say that if you did you wouldn't be the first Robin to freeze up on a mission. In fact just a month before you signed on as Red Robin I froze up whilst fighting a clown who for once wasn't the Joker, he reminded me of Haley's circus."

Tim was all too aware of the original Robin's origin story, he wondered how Dick managed to live every day having watched his parents fall to their deaths and being able to do nothing but watch and scream. If Dick could get through life and survive how many years of being a teen hero then so could he. Just then Bruce called out to them "Okay. Robin, Red, you two okay?" They both exchanged looks telling each other that it was the truth when they nodded their head "Well then come inside."

****A/N: Okay guys! Next chapter is the actual meeting between Karen and the bat boys. Okay so Karen Beecher will finally become Bumble Bee and we'll see how she got into the team and became the Atom's side kick I don't care if I'm getting the history wrong so don't bother mentioning it if I have.****

****After that I'm thinking Aquaman and Aqualad going to recruit Lagoon Boy and then Tim and La'gaan become fast friends so they can have the friendship they have by the end of the five year time skip.****


	12. 12) We Get That A Lot

****We Get That A Lot****

****Saturday 3********rd******** December 2016 00:01AM A/N: This is actually the reason I stopped writing on FF.N, all my stuff got deleted and I didn't have the motivation to rewrite all the plans and half finished chapters that I had for all my ongoing and unpublished fics:****

****The old A/N: My computer broke down and destroyed literally everything on my laptop so yeah, a lot of rewrites to complete! YAaaaaaa*trail into sarcasm*aaaaaay. I'm really sorry!****

**KAREN BEECHER POV**

So this was my life now. Sitting in my living room drinking tea with the Batman and his sidekicks, who knew having powers could open so many doors.

Robin leaned over "Red Robin here may be a sidekick but I'm a _protégé_, a partner even."

I covered my mouth embarrassed "Did I say that aloud?"

He grinned mischievously "No but I've been called a Sidekick enough times to know the look."

"Huh, that must get annoying."

"Yeah well now I'm on a team with a bunch of super sidekicks soooo."

"Yeah what's that like?"

Robin smiled happily "Well the team was founded by me, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Superoy. Aqua lad's our leader and it's pretty damn great."

"I'm sorry what? Superboy?"

"Right I forgot he wasn't exactly public knowledge. He's Superman's clone that was created by Cadmus; KF, Aqualad and I busted him out and founded the team. M'gann AKA Miss Martian, Martian Manhunter's niece then joined the team and then Artemis, Green Arrow's second protégé, and Rocket joined. Then of course there's my little bro Red Robin here, the newest member."

"Shouldn't one of you change your name so Robin and Red Robin don't get confused?"

"I'm planning to I just don't have a good one yet."

Karen thought for a second "What about Bat Boy?"

Robin glared at her and growled coldly "I said a good one."

Tim started smirking as he silently laughed at his older brother "I don't know Rob, I kinda like Bat Boy and every person you've asked _has_ suggested Bat Boy."

"I'm not calling myself that. I may as well be asking for the Joker to make more bad puns and jokes about my name. I already have to deal with Boy Blunder and Dickie Bird."

Karen snorted "Dickie Bird?"

"Oh yeah sure laugh at the guy in a Robin suit."

Karen laughed again "You know, for side k-uug protégés of Batman you guys are surprisingly fun."

Tim and Dick said simultaneously "Yeah we get that a lot."

**A/N: The first new material in like how may years!**

"How do you do it?" she asked suddenly.

"Do what?" Robin queried, not understanding her question.

"Be such great superheroes without any powers?"

"Training, hard work, determination and some great back up. Trust me I've messed up more times than I can count but I always have someone watching my back whether it be Batman, Kid Flash or Batgirl I can trust them."

Red Robin nodded in agreement "Trust is key when you're out in the field for real."

"You guys are really selling me on this whole Young Justice thing but... I'm just a cheerleader. I just wanna go to school and hang out with my friends and be disgusted by cafeteria food and forget to do my homework. I don't want to give up my life because of this."

"Oh the people who can work much more normal hours than us bats. I'm a straight A student-"

"-I'm an A and B student-" Red Robin chimed in.

"-Kid Flash alternates between tanking his classes and getting A*s, Artemis is..." He hesitated for a second talking about Artemis, he felt Tim send him a look "Artemis and I actually go to the same school, she gets Bs and As too. Being in Young Justice doesn't mean giving up your life. Think about it as sort of an extra curricular activity that you won't get extra credit for."

"Instead of Chess Club I'll join Junior Superhero Club huh. Why not? That is if my parents agree."

The three teens tuned back in to the adults conversation and found them talking about school grades and how best to manage time between school and Young Justice-ing.

Dr Beecher nodded thoughtfully "Well I guess that all sound pretty reasonable, if your boys can keep good grades and still protect Gotham I'm sure my Karen could _train-_ if she wants to of course. But that's where I draw the line, I don't want my baby girl-"

"-daaad!-"

"-risking her life to fight crime! Help her to control her powers, sure! Go ahead! But she is not some sort of masked vigilante running around in spandex and kevlar beating up villains!"

Batman nodded "Of course I can respect that."


	13. NOT A CHAPTER: THANKS

**HEY EVERYONE!**

**The next chapter I upload will be the first chapter in like 2 years to be completely brand new instead of just re-uploading old chapters!**

**In the years that I've been writing fanfics I've realised how truly awful at writing I used to be and how much better I've become simply because of practice on this site and on AO3 and because of the books I've read and the people's grammar I've had to correct in real life.**

**And of course I wouldn't have even have wanted to write if it wasn't for the great community here on FF.N and all the nice reviews you guys have been leaving me, just to let you know I do see and read all of them! Just like how I see everyone who follows and Favourites me or any of my fan fictions so thanks to the people who do that too I really appreciate it.**

Make your day great!

From XX


	14. 13) Weird Fish Dude

**13) I'll Make A Man Out Of You**

"Team, this is Karen, she'll be training with us for a while." Robin introduced the African American girl to the whole team. "Karen this is the team!"

Barbara made sure to stay in the back hoping that she wouldn't be recognised and cursing Batman for putting her in this position.

"I'm Kid Flash, but you can call me Wally." He sent the new recruit a flirtatious wink.

"Hold your horses Wallance." Artemis pushed him out of the way "I'm-," She blanched for a second because not only was she easy to recognise but also her superhero name was also her _actual_ name "I'm Artemis and I apologise for my friend."

"It's fine. Although you look _really_ familiar, do I know you from somewhere?" Karen replied.

Artemis cursed herself in her head and realised why Barbara was standing so far away from the group when she was usually front and centre and cursing the red head for not reminding her to stay hidden. Although she thanked God, she had decided to wear her mask "No, I don't think so. I just have one of those faces ya know."

Aqualad quickly came to her rescue, "I'm Aqualad, in the base you can call me Kaldur. I'm team leader."

"I'm Batgirl." She slipped in not adding any unnecessary chatter or drawing any attention to herself.

"I'm Megan or M'gann whichever is fine, I mean my superhero name is Miss Martian, oh and this is Superboy or Connor."

Connor sent her a stoic nod.

"We've already met! I'm T- I mean Red Robin!"

"I'm Raquel AKA Rocket."

"I'm Zatanna, the magician."

"No superhero name?" Karen asked.

"I have no need for one." Zatanna replied.

"And here I was up all night trying to think of a good one, I eventually just settled on Bumblebee. It's nice to meet you all. I'm sure we'll have fun training together."

Black Canary swept into the room "Training isn't supposed to be fun, it's training. Well newbie," she smiled "Let's see what you got. And don't worry I'll go easy on you." She did the universal hand gesture for _'come at me'_ and waited for Karen to do just that.

"I'm sorry, you want me to just attack you?" She asked unsure.

"That's right."

"With my powers? I don't want to hurt you."

Canary scoffed "I wouldn't worry about it."

"Okay..." Karen squared her shoulders and ran at Canary and was immediately tossed on the floor over her shoulder. "Ow."

"Let's go again." She offered her a hand "This time try and have a plan before you just go charging at me. Lesson one: if someone's more experienced than you, have a better plan. You're a smart girl, straight A student, daughter of a scientist, I'm sure that brain of yours can think of something. And don't forget you have powers now."

"Well you didn't exactly give me a chance to use them." She mumbled under he breath and was horrified when it became evident that Canary had heard.

"People who want to hurt you aren't going to give you a chance to use them either. Now try again."

Once again Karen Beecher ran at the Canary, keeping to her right side and then at the last moment she ducked to the left and shrunk, she flew under Dinah's arm and enlarged behind her using the element of surprise to strike her in the back, but just before the blow hit Dinah kicked back and Karen's hit didn't stick, instead hitting air.

The teen stumbled but didn't fall, instead choosing to shrink once again and stay above the more experienced woman. _'Think, think think, Karen. A plan. You need a better plan.'_ Then it hit her.

As quickly as she could she flew to Canary's feet and blasted a few bee stings at them causing her to look down and then she shot up like a rocket and unshrunk at the same time, using the momentum to power the smouldering upper cut she gave to the Canary.

Dinah stumbled back ears ringing and spat out a bit of blood. "Oh my God!" Karen started panicked at messing up on her first day and hurting the 'teacher' "I am _so_ sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Canary smiled at her "That was good, we might make a hero out of you yet. Of course you're not here for that, I'm just here to make sure you can control your powers." The other teens applauded, Robin grinning and Wally pouting because he hadn't been able to even get her off her feet for ages. "Now Robin you're up."

"What are the rules?" He asked stepping into the (self cleaning) fighting area.

"No utility belt for you and no Canary Cry for me."

"Well the Canary cry thing should be a given, you could deafen me."

"And you couldn't with one of your gadgets?"

"Touché."

Karen watched entranced as the two (almost non-powered) heroes completed a series of complicated looking martial arts moves. Robin got flung to the ground on his back but he jumped up the way break dancers do and attacked again. After they exchanged some harsh looking blows Robin swept a leg underneath her feet and she went down hard, backwards rolled away from his next blow seconds before it hit her and leapt up just in time to block with her right forearm. Without missing a beat Robin punched her viscously in the stomach and she was winded "That was a cheap shot." She gasped holding out a hand for a break.

"Well I asked for the rules, you never said no cheap shots." Robin shrugged smugly.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Bat-Boy." She shot back smugly.

Wally, Tim, Barbara, Karen and Megan all burst out laughing as yet another person called him 'Bat Boy'

"Really! Does everyone just get together with the Joker and Penguin and talk about all the terrible names you can call me? Why does this keep happening to me? I just want a cool name, is that too much to ask for?!"

"I happen to be really good at names." Karen spoke, still laughing slightly.

"Is that right _Bumblebee_." The sarcasm dripped from every word he spoke.

"Don't give me that look _Robin_." Karen fired back.

"Hey! My names great!" Robin exclaimed, feigning offence.

She scoffed at that but she didn't get the chance to reply.

"Play times over kids, Wally you're up." Black Canary fought 1 on 1 with each hero, setting the necessary rules to keep it fair as she went. And when everyone was done she partnered everyone up. "Artemis you're with Batgirl; Superboy with Aqualad; Robin you're with Bumblebee; Rocket you're with Kid Flash; Miss Martian you're with Zatanna; and Red you're with me. Get to work."

Robin taught Bumblebee the basics like blocking punches and how to throw good ones back; good combinations of moves; how to stand correctly when fighting; and how to fight opponents that are bigger or smaller than her. Her cheerleader training meant that they didn't have to start at the very beginning and could do cooler moves that involved flips or hand stands with ease.

"So what about my powers?" Karen asked whilst standing upside down.

"Well I'm just the combat guy, Canary and maybe even M'gann will be coaching you in the finer points of flying and using your powers. And Batman was talking about calling in a favour with The Atom. He shrinks and stuff too, plus he's a scientist so he'll be a big help to you, although he does it differently."

"Who knows, maybe I'll become his sidekick. _Atom and Bumblebee._"

He laughed "It doesn't have that same ring to it as Antman and The Wasp."

"Antman and the Who-now?"

Robin just sighed.


	15. 14) (Re)guilt Trip

The new team, including Karen, sat around throwing popcorn into their mouths and watching The Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes when suddenly an alarm started blaring. "What's that?" Yelled Karen in shock and fear as a red light started flashing.

"Someone's entered the cave. Someone we don't know." Robin declared, already in a defensive position and by the door checking the hallway to make sure the coast was clear, whilst also tapping his arm computer.

"Rob, check the cameras!" Artemis prompted "We need to know who or what we're dealing with."

"Oh if only I had thought to look at the cameras!" He said sarcastically, showing her the screen on his wrist computer which very clearly stated that the cameras were temporarily offline.

"Ok well then, KF do a quick recon. See what's around the corner and come straight back, and please, try not to get seen."

Wally nodded and went to do just that.

"Since when did you become team leader?" Robin grumbled snarkily.

"You know _someone_ told me you were a professional and you wouldn't let your apparent hatred of me ruin our working relationsh-" she was cut off by Kid Flash reappearing back in the room.

"There's a weird fish dude in your room Kaldur. Do you know him?"

Kaldar deadpanned "Just because he's a … 'Weird fish dude' doesn't mean I know him... That being said I'll go check it out." He started silently towards his room.

"I'll back you up, this fish guy could be an enemy of Aquaman's for all we know." Robin said jogging after the taller boy.

Kaldur nodded gratefully "That's a good idea."

"I'll go too!" Red Robin chimed in following the team leader and his big brother to check out a cool fish man.

For a second it looked like Robin was going to snap at him, tell him that he wasn't trained enough to take this on but something pulled him back, a sombreness neither Karen nor Tim had seen much of from their happy-go-lucky birdie. "Ok. But just stay behind me." Robin agreed.

The three boys crept down the hallway, weapons posed. They busted through the door like a bunch of cops on a drug bust and came face to face with what could only be described as a 'weird fish dude'.

"La'gaan?" Kaldur asked "What are you doing here?"

"You know this dude?" Tim asked, wondering how smug Wally was going to be about this.

The guy who Aqualad had announced to be La'gaan replied, grinning like a frat boy "Did King Arthur not tell you dude? I'm the new recruit! We're going to be Land buddies!"

"Oh joy." Kaldur said it with about as much joy as Red Tornado on a bad day.

"And get this," La'gaan continued not picking up on Aqualad's disdain for him "I'm no longer La'gaan!" He pulled Kaldar's blanket off his very neat bed and presumed a noble 1950s radio show voice "I am now Lagoon Boy!"

"Could you put my sheets back please." Kaldar asked, in turn ignoring the Atlantian's attempts to be a Young Justice Hero.

Aqualad didn't seem to like Lagoon Boy much, which Robin noticed instantly, he wondered what could have happened between them to cause such friction without La'gaan being aware there even was friction.

"Oh sure thing bro." He placed them back on the bed in literally the most untidy way possible. "So what about your two friends here? Care to introduce me?"

"This is Robin and Red Robin, they're the ptotégées of Batman."

"Ah the infamous Man of Bats! I've heard that he is _'Outrageous'_! I _have t_o meet him!"

Robin frowned "Hang on. You've been vetted for the team and you're in the cave but you haven't met _Batman _yet?"

"Yeah, why? Is that weird?"

"Yeah it is. Hang on some more!" Robin exclaimed "How did you even get in here?"

"I went on 'the net' to locate this 'Mountain of Justice' and then swam over here. It was quite easy to enter because of all the information My King gives to me as his new apprentice."

"Is he really letting you join the team?"

"He thinks it would be better if Atlantians were more ingrained with the surface dwellers, he must have thought you weren't doing a good enough job."

Kaldur bristled at that, "He probably just wanted to get you out of Atlantis and away from him."

La'gaan laughed, still not feeling any of the animosity directed at him "Oh Kaldur'um you crack me up!"

Suddenly Robin understood why Kaldur seemed to hate La'gaan. He was _jealous_ of other Atlantean, much like Robin had been jealous of Jason. Kaldur felt like he'd been replaced as Aquaman's protégée just like Richard had felt replaced by the second Robin.

"Hey Kaldur, can I talk to you over here for a second."

"Of course." The Atlantean seemed more than happy to have an excuse to leave the other Atlantean.

The two left and Tim gave them both death stares for leaving him alone with this new weird fish dude. "Why don't I introduce you to the rest of the team." Tim dragged him back to the lounge where a majority of the team was still waiting.

The team leader and the future team leader stood in Aquaman's room "What did you want to talk about?"

"About Lagoon Boy. I know it may _seem_ like Auther is replacing you but he's not."

"What?"

"He may be oblivious to how much you hate him but I'm not. Look, when Batman brought in the second Robin I was devastated and angry, not only had I been replaced, but the kid had tried to steal the name given to me by my late parents. I hated his guts and I made it abundantly clear that I did, unfortunately he wasn't as obtuse as La'gaan, he knew I hated him not because of anything he did, I barely knew the poor kid, simply because I was jealous. And then he died."

"I'm _not_ jealous of-"

"You think that Aquaman just replaced you because he didn't need you anymore but really he needed you so much that when you got busy with the team he realised how _much_ he needed you."

"Then why didn't he _tell_ me?" Asked Kaldur finally admitting to hating La'gaan.

"Because he didn't want to hold you back. Young Justice was founded on the base of making our own way and getting out of our mentors shadows, if he ordered you back it would go against everything we've worked so hard for."

Kaldur looked like he wanted to protest but then he sighed, defeated "Yeah okay, I guess La'gaan isn't that bad." The two went to join the rest of the team in the lounge "And I _am_ sorry about Jay."

"Yeah well... It wasn't you're fault I was a jerk." He reaches for his communicator "I'm gonna call Batman, tell him Lagoon Boy is here."

**LINE BREAK**

"Oh my God!" Karen exclaimed when she saw La'gaan.

"What?" He asked confused not getting her shock.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." She shook her head as if the motion would fix her eyes which must have been broken if she was staring at a _weird fish man_.

"I'm La'gaan aka Lagoon Boy, I'm a friend of Kaldur'um's."

"Called it!" Yelled Wally, Artemis gave him a death stare "I mean I'm Kid Flash but you can call me Wal-man."

"Wal-man? Is that a...common name on the surface?"

"Oh uug no, it's just a nickname."

"Mmm." He nodded contemplating this.

"I'm Artemis."

"Zatanna."

"Ka-Bumb-Kar-uum." Karen choked out

"This is also a nick name yes?"

"Um no that's not my name at all. I'm sorry, I wasn't sure if we were using our superhero names or our real names."

"Until I get a hold of Batman it's Superhero names." Robin said redialling the Bat's number.

"Well then I'm Bumblebee. You can call me Bee though."

"It is lovely to meet you Bumblebee."

"I'm M'gaan / Miss Martian and this is Superboy."

Lagoon boy took one look at the green girl and fell head over heels in love with her. He smiled flirtatiously in a way that somehow didn't come off as arrogant as when Wally did it "La'gaan." He took her hand in his and planted a kiss on it, he was happy when he saw the light blush he had drawn onto her cheeks.

Connor scowled at him "M'gaan is my girlfriend."

"You two seem quite different though." He said confused looking at the bubbly and bright M'gaan and then the dour and dark Superboy.

"Well you've known us for a grand total of three seconds. You don't know us yet alone know if we're 'quite different'."

After a few seconds of silence Raquel pitched in with "I'm Rocket."

"Batgirl." She nodded at the boy and then turned to Robin "You got Batman yet?"

"No. He's not answering." Robin replied worried.

"That's unlike him." Tim added.

"I'll go check it out." Robin declared walking towards the door.

"I'll come too!" Tim started after him.

"Absolutely not!" Robin snapped and regretted it when he saw the hurt creep onto his little brother's face "Look if Batman's in danger then whoever has him is dangerous. I can't risk you getting hurt."

"But I'm hero, same as you. I can do this!"

"But you're not the same as me! You're good at what you do Red, but I've been doing this for longer and I won't put you in danger."

"Well what about you? You're always looking out for me, who's going to watch your back?"

His eyes scanned the team, his closest and most loyal friends (and Artemis) "Batgirl, let's go."

The two left and for a second Artemis couldn't control her temper "Typical." She huffed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Tim.

"Oh nothing, it's just typical of a bat to make everyone else seem like they're not as good at hero-ing and then cutting them out."

Tim frowned "Well maybe he'd be more inclined to share if he knew that you wouldn't turn on him over something so incredibly stupid! And to think I tried to get him to forgive you!"

She stopped "You did?"

"Of course I did. You guys are-_were_ friends and Kaldur didn't want the team to be fractured. It seemed like the only right thing to do but now I fully understand why he's so mad at you. You take every opportunity to blame the Bats. Now if you'll excuse me." He started to leave as well.

"Hang on!" Wally stopped him "Where are you going Robin said not to get involved."

"And I'm not, I'm heading to the Bat Cave to play mission control. Just because I can't be there, doesn't mean I can't help." And with that Tim left too only leaving a re-guilted Artemis, an over-excited fish dude and a cast of awkward team mates behind.


	16. 15) See The Light

Batman woke up with a start to find himself chained to a pole that went all the way up to the high ceiling of the warehouse he appeared to be trapped in. A woman surrounded by black hooded figures stepped out of the shadows "Talia." Bruce growled.

"Bruce. It's been a while."

"For a good reason. What do you want?"

"I was recently approached by a group calling themselves_ The Light_. They wanted me to join them in taking down the Justice League and your little sidekicks too. Now I'm not all opposed to their idea but I felt I had to tell you out of courtesy."

"That didn't answer my question what do you want?"

"I'll accept their offer and be your spy on the inside. All you have to do is agree to be the next Demon's Head of the League of Assassins when my father dies."

"I already have all the information I need to beat them."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Like the fact that they exist. This meeting is over."

She smiled at him "You're not exactly in a position to decide that. I was always going to join The Light Bruce, but it was your choice as to whether I was with you or against you. You're right this meeting _is _over, and as I can't have you blabbing back to the League about The Light, so are you." She signalled for her ninja army to attack and they all lunged forward, their blackened swords at the ready.

"Today's your lucky day!" Robin yelled jumping down from seemingly no where "You get to have your asses handed to you by a teenager!" He immediately launched himself into a series of complicated flips and twists, simultaneously dodging their swords and attacking them with his own Bo staff and Bird-A-Rangs.

Batgirl snuck in, in the midst of the battle and got to work on unlocking Batman "How'd you find me?"

"We didn't. Tim did. He managed to somehow turn your tracker back on."

"But in order to turn it back on he would have had to have hacked into the Bat Main Frame. I did those myself with some extra updates from Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter. How did he do that?"

She shrugged "I don't know. I'm a good hacker, but what he was doing went right over mine and Robin's heads. Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air as she finally managed to unlock the chains. "Let's do this."

The two Bats jumped into the fray and assisted Robin in his steady takedown of hardened assassins.

**LINE BREAK**

"They call themselves _The Light_." Batman told the Justice League and the Young Justice Team.

Black Canary frowned "Where did you get this information from?"

"Talia Al Ghul."

"And you trust her?!" Canary exclaimed.

"Well she was willing to kill me over this information and she hasn't tried to kill me in a long time. She didn't want me telling you this.

"They're recruiting our enemies?" Superman asked.

"Well they approached Talia. Who knows how many other of our rogues galleries are also in on it."

"Do you at least have a rough list?" Asked Wonder Woman "You must have some ideas."

"You're right about that. I believe that the following people are in League with The Light: obviously Talia Al Ghul and in turn the sector of the League of Assassins that follow her, Lex Luthor, Klarion the Witch Boy and Queen Bee. We don't know their goals or how far they're willing to go to achieve them and we don't know their full membership list, but we do know they exist and they're dangerous and that means we know we have to take them down."

"I'll look into it. I have some contacts I can shake down." The Question assured them.

"As do I." Batman said darkly.


	17. 16) The One And Only Artemis Crock

**A/N: Here's a list of the current team in case you've forgotten: (Because ever time I write a chapter I have to do a mental checklist and it's better to have an _actual_ checklist.**

**Robin - Richard "Dick" Grayson**

**Red Robin - Tim Drake**

**Batgirl - Barbara Gordon**

**Kid Flash- Wally West**

**Artemis – Artemis Crock**

**Miss Martian- M'gaan M'orzz - Megan Morse**

**Superboy - Conner Kent**

**Aqualad- Kaldur'ahm**

**Zatanna- Zatanna Zatara**

**Rocket- Raquel Ervin**

**Lagoon Boy- La'gaan**

**Bumblebee- Karen Breecher**

"_The Light_." Whispered Karen "They don't sound so bad."

"If Lex and the League of Assassins are involved than it's definitely bad." Robin told her, mulling over what little information Batman had been able to provide "Batman, the Question and I think Black Canary are gonna hit up some informants but I don't see what some low level thugs could know about the Light. We on the other hand are going to search for their digital presence."

Wally nodded "I can scan through web pages in a flash and these three Bats are the best hackers you'll ever meet."

"If Klarions involved maybe I can sense his actions." Zatanna announced going to her room to grab her magic books.

"So what do we do?" Asked Karen wanting to be useful to her new friends.

"Talk, train, whatever you want." Robin said leading KF, Batgirl and Red Robin away to the main computers.

The remaining team members stood around as all the people who could help went and helped, they all felt rather useless and Lagoon Boy could sense it (for once). In an attempt to create conversation he said "Oh Kaldur'um I forgot to mention! The Ocean Master disappeared!"

"What? Someone took him out?" Kaldur asked shocked.

"It would seem that way. People have been speculating that it was Black Manta but I don't know, it feels like they should have been working together rather than against each other."

Kaldur thought for a second "This is strange indeed. Wasn't Black Manta working _for_ Ocean-Master?"

"Yeah he was, which is why people think it was him."

Rocket laughed "I can't imagine someone with a name as stupid as 'Ocean Master' was a good boss."

They all laughed at that, shaking off the seriousness of a powerful super villain disappearing without a trace.

"So you guys want to train or watch a movie?"

"Movie!" Exclaimed La'gaan.

"We need to train." Scowled Conner.

"Come on Con, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!" Megan teased him lightly, agreeing with La'gaan.

"What?"

"It's a saying. It basically means if you don't have fun sometimes you'll become boring." Explained Raquel, laughing at Superboy's lack of understanding of phrases.

Miss Martian smiled at them "Maybe I should offer my mind reading skills to Black Canary. I could do some investigating of my own" And she too flew off.

Conner scowled and stalked off to the training room whilst Lagoon went off to find a TV. Aqualad followed Connor to the training room, agreeing with the other original member that they needed to train. Rocket was about to join him in the lounge room when Icon, he mentor, Zetaed in "Rocket, we have a situation."

"Lead the way." She smiled, running after the red and green clad man. "Bye team!"

Artemis and Karen looked at each other. They hadn't spent much time together so far. Karen had thought it was because she was closer friends with Robin and the two of them seemed to in some kind of argument when in reality it was because Artemis didn't want Karen to recognise her as her best friend from school.

"So..." Karen said awkwardly.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I would have thought you'd be out there, shaking down leads or whatever."

"Most of my leads are of the unsavoury type. I'll shake them down when I get some backup."

"Why don't you get Superboy and Aqualad?"

Artemis paused for a second before saying "My dad is Sportsmaster, my mother _was _Huntress and my sister is Cheshire. The team knows but... I don't like reminding them that they're on a team with someone who was raised to be a criminal."

"And all your leads are related to that?"

"Yeah. Some of those guys knew me when I was a kid. Some are still in contact with my dad, I don't want him catching on to anything I'm doing. Unfortunately he's actually a pretty smart guy."

"Thanks for telling me... and you know, trusting me with this. I feel like I know you now."

"Trust me when I say that you're still miles from knowing me."

"You're a superhero, I wouldn't have it any other way. You and the bats all have iron-clad secret identities, it means that if I do ever learn them, I've got your trust, you're not just handing them out willy-nilly."

Artemis' smile dropped.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No. I mean sort of but not really."

"Could you... elaborate."

"I'm sure you've seen the fight between me and Robin."

"Yes."

"Well the reason things are a bit tense, is because I accused him and the rest of the Bat Clan of not trusting the rest of the League and the YJ team because no one knew their identities but they knew everyone's, even before anyone told them. So me keeping my identity from you... it's hypocritical to say the least."

"No it's not! We've just met, for all you know I could go blabbing my mouth to the media about your secret identity."

"But I know you wouldn't do that!"

"Why because I signed a contract with Batman?"

"No, because I _do _know you. And I've been _lying_ to you for years."

"What?" Karen was lost "What are you talking about?"

"Before, when you first met me in this cave, you said I looked familiar." She reached up to her mask, undoing the clasps at the back.

As the green piece of kevlar-spandex blend fell from her face revealing the teenaged girl who she had gone to school with for the past two years. The girl who she had copied homework from and had copied her homework; the girl she had studied with; the girl who had watched her cheer-leading; the girl who had given her boy advice and laughed with her and cried with her and sat in detention with. The girl who she had been terrified to death wouldn't understand when she told her that she had bee powers. "Artemis Crock."

"The one and only."

"You- you-you-what?" was all the African-American girl could get out.

"I know, I should have told you the moment you joined the team but I was scared you would be mad that I lied to you for so long."

"I'm not mad. I understand why you did it, I mean I never told you about my powers either. I'm just really, really shocked."

"Yeah, that's understandable."

"I'm also really annoyed at myself that I didn't see this before. I mean I see you everyday at school and a piece of cloth stops me from recognising my best friend."

"Don't feel bad, I've been fooled twice by that same trick." She thought back to when she had learnt that Robin and Batgirl both went to her school.

Suddenly her eyes widened "Wait a minute! Your mum was Huntress?!"

"Yeah."

"But-but she's so nice!"

"That's one of the reasons she stopped. She didn't want to be a criminal anymore and then she broke her lower back which also helped her not be Huntress but mostly she wanted to stop."

"Woah, you've just blown my mind twice in a minute."

"We're... we're still friends right?"

"Of course! Artemis, I wouldn't ditch you for the world." she pulled her in for a hug.

"Thanks Karen."

"Wait till I tell Victor."

Artemis screeched "What! Karen you-"

"I was joking! It was a joke!"


End file.
